FAMOUS

SHIPS

This ship was an 80-gun 1^st rate that was first named NASEBY.  Several years after Oliver Cromwell assumed the title of Lord Protector of England, he authorized the construction of three “great ships” for the Navy.  These were the NASEBY (named for his victory over the royalists in 1645), the 64-gun LONDON and DUNBAR (the later subsequently named HENRY.)  The NASEBY’S dimensions were:  Length, 162 feet; Breadth, 52 feet 6 inches; Depth, 11 feet; tons, 1,230; Hull, wood; Armament, 80 guns; designed by Peter Pett and built at Woolwich Dockyard, England in 1655.  NASBEY’S original adornments included a figure-head portraying, according to Samuel Pepys, “Oliver on horseback trampling 6 nations under foote, a Scott, Irishman, Dutch, French, Spaniard and English as was easily made out by their several habits: A Fame held  a laurel over his insulting head, & the word God with us.”  When King Charles II returned from exile in the NASEBY, he ordered the ship named for himself as well as the figurehead of Neptune, an act that irritated the parsimonious Pepys, who complained, “God knows, it is even the flinging away of 100 pounds out of the King’s purse.” 

Thus the HMS ROYAL CHARLES was born from the now ex NASEBY.  The ship under either name did not participate in the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652-4 since she was not yet built.  The Second Anglo-Dutch War, which began in 1665, was another story.  In the first battle on June 13, 1665, HMS ROYAL CHARLES was the flagship of the Duke of York (the future King James II), who was the Lord High Admiral.  At this battle of Lowestoft both fleets numbered over 100 ships.  The English had superior gun power, bigger ships and were more organized than the Dutch (the English fought in the new Line of Battle), but the Dutch fought very well.  By midafternoon, the HMS ROYAL CHARLES was in danger of being sunk or surrendered to the EENDRACHT when the Dutch flagship exploded, killing all but five of her 400 crew, including the Dutch Admiral Wassenaer van Obdam.  HMS ROYAL CHARLES was so damaged that eh Duke shifted his flag to the HMS ST. MICHAEL and later still the HMS ROYAL JAMES.  Nonetheless, Lowestoft was a clear English victory, with only 250 dead compared with the 4,000 Dutch dead.  This was the last battle of the year 1665, since the fleets only fought during good weather in the summer, the bulk of the fighting taking place in the English Channel close to both fleets home ports.

 In the spring of 1666, command of the English fleet was divided between Prince Rubert and George Monck, Duck of Albermarle, in HMS ROYAL CHARLES.  At the end of May, the Dutch fleet still being in port, King Charles unwisely divided his fleet and sent Prince Rubert west to prevent a French force from joining the Dutch.  Unknown to King Charles, this was not going to happen, but the damage was done.  This resulted in Monck confronting the Dutch fleet of 85 ships under Admiral Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter with only 56 English ships.  Monck decided to attack the Dutch on June 1^st, even though he was heavily outnumbered.  This lead to the capture of the disabled and hopelessly trapped second-rate SWIFTSURE by the Dutch ship REIGER, following a heroic defense in which Vice-Admiral Sir William Berkeley was killed.  But overall the English did well on the first day.  Early on the second day Monck profited from a tactical error by Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Tromp, until de Ruyter came to his countryman’s assistance.  Each side lost three ships.  On June 3^rd Monck had to retreat toward the English coast, as his ships were in bad shape.  During the withdrawal (or tactical retreat), the HMS ROYAL PRINCE (90 guns) ran aground on Galloper Shoal and was burned by the Dutch.  Monck, at the end of the 3^rd day, joined forces with the ships under the command of Prince Rubert, who now came up to help with his ships which had been originally sent west.  The two fleets rejoined the battle on the June 4^th and the battle could have went either way.  Through a stroke of good luck and hard fighting, the Dutch came out victorious, although both fleets were so badly damaged that they could not have fought another day.  The English in particular were running out of ammunition!  The Four Days Battle of 1666 remains one of the longest fleet engagements on record.  Although the English losses were more than double those of the Dutch – 20 ships lost (depending on the source of the information, as there is some question as to the exact number of ships lost on both sides) and many killed on both sides, the English regrouped fast, and the fleet put to see again in July.  The Dutch were the only ones who had prizes taken (six ships) and thought that they had completely destroyed the English fleet.  Fifty days later, they were proved wrong.

 On August 4^th the two fleets met again, the Dutch confident of a victory.  The HMS ROYAL CHARLES was again the flagship of the English, but this time their fleet was not divided, their losses suffered in June were replaced, and they had additional help with the mighty SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS, which did not fight in the Four Days Battle due to lack of manpower!  The battle proved disastrous for the Dutch, although de Ruyter fought long and well.  Dutch losses this time amounted to 20 ships, the English lost 3 ships.  This battle is known as the St. James’ Day Fight by the English. 

 In the Spring of 1667, the English treasury was exhausted by a combination of Charles’s extravagance and the lasting effects of both the Great Plague of 1665 and the London fire of September 1666.  Charles decided to economize by laying up his fleet.  Seeing their opportunity, the Dutch fleet attacked the fort at Sheerness on June 10^th and advanced up the Medway.  The English scuttled a number of ships in an effort to block the channel, and an iron chain was strung across the river between Upnor and Gillingham.  Over the course of three days, twenty-three ships were lost, most intentionally sunk by the English and then burned by the Dutch.  The losses included two first rates, three second rates, two third rates, six fourth rates and one sixth rate.  Orders were given to burn the HMS ROYAL CHARLES, but at the approach of a Dutch boat from the BESCHERMING, the crew fled.  As Pepys recounted, “The Dutch did take her with a boat of nine men, who found not a man aboard her, and …..presently a man went up and struck her flag and jack……They did carry her down at a time when both for wind and tide, when the best pilot in Chatham would not have undertaken it, they heeling her on one side to make her draw little water.”

 In short, the HMS ROYAL CHARLES was taken as a prize and sailed to a Dutch port.  Incompatible with the needs of the Dutch fleet (she drew to much water), HMS ROYAL CHARLES never fought again and the Dutch displayed her at Rotterdam as a war trophy.  She was auctioned and broken up in 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

 For an excellent read and a more complete account of the Four Days’ Battle of 1666, I highly recommend the book A DISTANT STORM: The Four Days’ Battle of 1666 by Frank L. Fox, Press of Sail Publications, 1996.